


The Cat Dog Swing

by empty_battlefield



Series: A Slice of Sadstuck [11]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: 1950s, Cats, Dancing, Dogs, F/M, Growing Old Together, Kanaya/Rose wedding, Rare Characters, Rare Pairings, Sadstuck, Slow Dancing, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 05:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9976079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empty_battlefield/pseuds/empty_battlefield
Summary: Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.Everyone on Earth C is paired up. Except for Jade Harley, who doesn't even have someone to slow dance with at Rose and Kanaya's wedding.That is, until an unlikely swing partner brings her out onto the floor.Fluffy. Rarepair. 1950s style GCATavrosprite x Jade Harley.





	

"Hey—do you remember the first time we met?" Jade said, trying to lighten his mood.

"You mean over pesterchum, when I asked you to be my human girlfriend?" he snickered. "I don't _want_ to remember it."

"No, silly. The first time I met _you_ ," Jade said playfully. "Tavros the cat-sprite robot boy. At Rose and Kanaya's wedding."

"You taught me how to swing," Tavros said nostalgically. 

"And you were my finest pupil," Jade said, poking him in the chest plate.

* * *

Why did the damn song have to be so long?

"Hey, Jade?"

Jade froze, then looked up. GCAT-TavrosSprite-Bot—whatever he was now since Dirk built him that robot body—was standing a few feet away from her, staring. "Oh—hey, Tav— "Jade stopped abruptly, "—um, what do you go by these days?"

He laughed. "Just Tavros," he replied. "Why aren't you in there dancing? I'm gog awful at it, but what's your excuse?"

"I don't know," Jade said lamely. "It's just not my song."

"Why not?" Tavros pressed further. He had changed greatly from the awkward little troll boy that once asked her to be his "matesprit" over pesterchum all those years ago. Maybe that's what getting first-guardian powers and a new robot body does to a guy. 

"I don't like slow dances," she replied without looking at him.

"Neither do I. Being third wheel sucks," he replied. She turned to look at him questionably. He cocked an eyebrow. "Have you seen Dirk and Jake? They're closer than freshly laid wallpaper." Jade snickered. He said, "So—what if it _was_ your song? I know you like that—uh, 60 doo rags? Music?"

"What? Oh, 50s doo-wop, or ragtime, yeah I love those," Jade said, smiling. "I used to dance to them with my Grandpa when I was really little."

"So, if we get Dave to put one of those on, would you dance?" Tavros asked again.

Her smile quickly faded. "Oh, I don't know, Tavros..."

"Cmon. It'll be fun," he said. "We'll go as friends, no harm in that, right? I've never really danced before, maybe you can teach me some moves?"

"Um—okay. Sure. We can do that," she said finally. Tavros smiled like he'd just won the lottery. The robotic cat ears perched atop his head even perked a bit. Jade couldn’t help finding him a teensy bit cute. The pair of them went back inside. 

Jade found Dave on the DJ's platform. His arms were wrapped around his boyfriend, and Karkat's head was resting on Dave's chest. 

Jade waited awkwardly for the last few notes of the song to fall before poking Dave in the back. She told him to put on one of her favorite records. Jade took Tavros to the floor. He originally went to put his hands on Jade's elbows, which made her laugh. Tavros smiled awkwardly, a bit like how she remembered. She grasped his one metallic hand with her own, and placed his other hand on her waist. She placed her one hand on his shoulder, feeling the hard metal plate underneath his suit. 

Jade led him off with a box to a slow, even paced doo-wop song—simple enough for him to follow. As the age old saxophone trickled out of the speakers, and deep voiced men hummed and crooned about "the still of the night," Tavros boxed and spun Jade around. Every time he twirled her, she would smile and her slender arm would flick out to the side at a delicate angle, her leg smoothly extended and her red heeled foot pointed. Jade became like a butterfly when she danced. Tavros just hoped he didn't look like a praying mantis in comparison.

Just before the song ended, Jade asked Tavros, "You tired yet?"

"Of you? Never," he replied. 

"You're keeping up. You think you're ready for the next tier?"

Jade approached Dave, who had just finished dancing with Karkat behind the turntables. She looked like she had requested a second song. 

Dave complained, "Another one? Where do you think we are, a sock hop?"

"C'mon. They're so short, and you know it. Just put this one on, it'll be another two minutes."

Dave reluctantly fusses with his turntables and another song comes blaring on. Jade steps down from the counter, grinning. This beat is faster, a swinging melody. Tavros takes Jade by the hand, ready for the second round. 

It was a fast jive, but Jade never missed a beat. Her legs moved quick as scissors with her red shoes gleaming as she stepped and kicked. Tavros held her hand with an extended arm, trying to copy her rapid movements as the female singer’s words chorused from the speakers.

_Anytime you're feeling low_  
_And you got no place to go_  
_You don't have to be blue_  
_Here is what you gotta do_

Jade laughed as he began digging his dress shoes into the floor and swung his hips to match her rhythm. 

"Ha, where did you even learn that?!" Jade exclaimed over the sound of the blaring sax.

"Don't be so surprised—I know who Elvis Presley is," Tavros replied jokingly.

"You're keeping up pretty well," Jade remarked, pulling him back in again, close, still stepping in time to the music.

"Must be the new legs," he replied, replacing his hand to her hip.

"Oh please. Your legs never had anything to do with it."

_Call me on the telephone_  
_Tell me that you're all alone_  
_And I'll come a running to you_  
_Baby that's all you gotta do_

"You're not so out of practice yourself, are you?" Tavros asked again. "You sure the last person you danced with was your Grandpa?"

"I've been jitterbugging with the wall," Jade admitted. 

"I hope I'm an upgrade from that, then."

"By leaps and bounds."

Tavros stomped and kicked. He twirled Jade around three times, which made her a bit dizzy. He caught her just before she lost her balance, then went for the dip. She arched her back to welcome it. Tavros supported her waist with bionic arms that could never drop her. He smoothly pulled her back upright, and they continued in their swinging jive. It was almost as if the two first guardians inside each of them were trying to outdo one another other—little green sparks were drawn from their feet and hands as they twisted and hopped.

"Tired yet, Jade?" Tavros bantered. 

She was panting while smiling, not bothering to wipe the sweat from her forehead. "Are you kidding me? First guardian-hybrid people don't _get_ tired." The odd pair—the dog girl and the cat boy—spun and slid across the floor until the last few measures of the song.

Jade was still a bit dizzy when the song ended. She thanked Tavros for the dance, and he smiled as he left her on the floor. She was almost sad that it was the last one. Jade was confused as all the wedding party suddenly cleared from the dance floor and a group of girls swarmed around her. Rose and Kanaya turned their backs to everyone, smiling, as they tossed the bouquet over their shoulders. 

There were dozens of girls' arms flinging about in the air. Jade mainly put her hands up so the flowers wouldn't hit her in the face.

The girls around her began cheering before she only realized that she had caught the bridesmaid's bouquet.

Jade looked around, and met Tavros' eye. He smiled as if to congratulate her, and she thanked God that he didn't seem to be caught up on human wedding traditions. She blushed a bit into the flowers. 

The music swelled up again, and the dancing resumed. Jade returned to her table to put the flowers beside her place setting, when a hand reached over her shoulder and plucked one of the blossoms out of the band.

Jade turned around, Tavros was standing in front of her, the stem of the flower clamped in between his teeth. He theatrically extended his hand to her like an invitation.

"I see you've been reading up on tango as well, hmm?"

He laughed so hard the flower fell out of his mouth. Jade stood up and took his invitation. He led her to the floor and once again, everyone stared as the dog girl and the cat boy shimmied and jammed into the night.

* * *

Tavros stroked Jade's hair, petted her fluffy dog ears. He remembered a time before her black wavy hair was weathered into a tangle of wiry gray by age. 

It was Year 70 on Earth C.

Jade was 86 years old, sleeping in Tavros' hive. She stirred into wakefulness. 

"Hey puppy? You still there?"

Jade and Tavros never married, but he took her to his home after Jade outlived the rest of the original humans. Her children were grown and after her roommates, Karkat and Dave, each passed away, she went to live with Tavros. 

Jade blinked, then sat up in bed. "Sup, Kitten.”

"I, uh—I had a real reason for waking you up. I brought this over from your old house,” he said. He delicately placed an old record in her lap. It was one Dave had alchemized for her early on, from her grandfather’s house.

“Who’s it by? You know I can’t read anymore.”

Tavros sat on the edge of her bed. "I can get your glasses for you, if you want. You're probably due for a new prescription soon, hmm?"

"Ah—not worth it," Jade said. "Won't need them for long, anyway."

Tavros' smile faded. He said in a tentative voice he rarely used, "Uh—sprites don't live forever, do they?"

"I don't think they do," Jade replied flatly. "They've gotta splode at some time or another. Even godcat sprites with robo bodies. No tango goes forever, kitten."

Tavros nodded silently. "Jade—are you afraid to die?"

"Me? No, Tavros. I've lived a long life, seen a lot of things, had a lot of great friends and children—and now it's my time," she said calmly. "You remember Prospit?"

"Of course."

"You remember seeing things in the clouds? It's like that," she said. "Skaia always has a plan." Tavros said nothing in response to Jade’s old adage. Jade spoke again, "Look kitten, I've outlived a lot of people, and it hurts for a while, but you'll all end up together sooner or later. It's my turn now and soon it'll be yours. That's just how it goes." She squinted at the writing on the record’s paper sheath. “This Brenda Lee? Am I right?”

“Yeah, you're right,” Tavros said, smiling just a bit. “You remember where it’s from?”

“Of course,” she replied, “That was our first dance. When Kanaya married Rose. Go ahead, put it on.”

Jade extended it to him with pale, frail arms, and Tavros took the record from its case. “You want side A or side B this time?” he asked nonchalantly. 

“B.”

“Really?” he asked. “It’s ‘I’m Sorry.’ You hate that song.”

“Ah, it’s okay. I can’t keep up with the fast songs anymore anyway.”

Tavros put the record on. The slow tempo crept in, and when Tavros turned around, Jade was getting out of bed. “You saw this coming,” she teased as she slowly stood up. “You know you can’t put on a record without getting a dance.”

Tavros smiled. He rested a familiar hand on Jade’s plump hip, and she brought her hand to his shoulder, dilapidated by tarnish.

“You’re a bit _rusty_ , my friend,” she said playfully.

Tavros snickered. “You think you’re so _punny_.”

The two danced to the slow music, rocking back and forth in a circle. Tavros raised his arm, and Jade welcomed a small spin. She smiled, placed her head on his chest. Tavros slipped his arm round her back, lest she fall. They danced slowly, in a circle, rocking back and forth. “I’m sorry,” she said finally.

“My gog Jade, for what?”

“For letting you go,” she replied. She picked up her head to look him in the eyes. “When you first got up the courage to ask me out, why didn’t I marry you right then and there?”

Tavros would have blushed if he had any more blood left in him. They never talked about matespritship, let alone marriage. He swallowed a stutter. “Because I was a scrawny dork back then who thought it was brave to propose over instant message.”

“You were always brave,” she said, putting her head back on his chest. “I made a mistake.”

Tavros didn’t know how to respond. He just swayed with the beat for a few measures before saying, “I love you, Jade.”

“Love you too,” Jade murmured into his shirt.

The two of them swayed and rocked for the remainder of the song. Tavros held Jade close to his body, which had never ceased rusting since Dirk grew too old and feeble to make repairs. He remembered burying his two best friends. And now Jade. She was lying when she said it would hurt.

It would be excruciating.

“I’ll jitterbug with the wall for as long as it takes for me to join you over there,” Tavros told her.

He felt the warm vibration of her laugh on his shoulder. “Yeah, you better not be out of practice by the time both of us have kicked the bucket.”

The song ended, and Tavros stood there with Jade in his arms for a moment—hugging her tightly. He sat her back on the bed and pulled the covers over her, tucking her in. He crossed the room to stop the whirring record and put it back in its box.

“Tired yet, Jade?”

“Yeah.”

He flipped the light switch off.

**Author's Note:**

> Songs mentioned:  
> In the Still Of the Night (Five Satins)  
> That's All You Gotta Do (Brenda Lee)  
> I'm Sorry (Brenda Lee)
> 
> And as always, comments and thoughts are greatly appreciated!


End file.
